Purdue University
School of Civil Engineering
CE 361 Introduction to Transportation Engineering
Test 1 (7 questions on 6 pages)
Tues. 1 October 1996; 8:30-9:30 PM; Room 172 WTHR
OPEN BOOK AND NOTES
For each question, show enough of your work or provide sufficient explanation
to allow the grader to follow your solution process and, in the case of an
incorrect answer, award partial credit.
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Keep America Moving. Superior Products, Inc., a major employer in
the Mythaca area, is threatening to move its operations to a city in another
state. SPI cites deteriorating transportation infrastructure and services
as a major factor in the decision to leave Mythaca. A meeting of major
stakeholders in Mythaca was convened. The result was a decision to hire you
as a consultant to document the nature and extent of the transportation
problems in the Mythaca area.
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(6 points)
Name 3 major stakeholders and why they are key "players".
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(9 points)
List 3 kinds of data that you would want to collect in order to
"document the nature and extent of the transportation problems".
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Highway Capacity and Level of Service. SR361 east of Mythaca is a 2-lane
rural road through rolling terrain. For most of its 10-mile length from Mythaca
to Eastpoint, it has the following characteristics: 12-foot lanes, 3-foot shoulders,
and 15 percent no passing zones. Peak period flow = 410 vph with a 60/40 directional
distribution and 2% RV, 1% bus, 18% trucks.
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(9 points)
Do the peak period conditions on this section of SR361 correspond to LOS C or
better?
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(6 points)
Unfortunately, a bridge on SR361 over Whitford Creek has 10.5-foot lanes and
1.5-foot shoulders. If the bridge is considered to be the bottleneck that
determines SR361's capacity, can LOS C be maintained during the peak period?
(Hint: Treat the bridge as a highway section of its own.)
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(12 points) Queueing in "real life". You (and several thousand other
music lovers) are driving to the Vulgaris concert at Fawn Creek Music Center just
off I-24 north of Mythaca. Heavy traffic on the offramp from I-24 to the county
roads leading to FCMC are causing a backup onto I-24. Describe how you would try
to estimate the value of "mu" for this offramp as a queueing system without
leaving your car, which is stuck in the offramp traffic. Use hypothetical but
plausible numbers to clearly demonstrate your method.
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(12 points) Potpourri. What is a contraflow lane? Give an example.
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MNL Mode Choice Model. A group of teachers in the Mythaca School District
have agreed to stop commuting by motor vehicle. Instead, each of these teachers
will choose each morning between walking and bicycling to school, depending on the
weather. The utility functions for the two non-motorized modes for these teachers
are:
U(bike) = 0.0 - 0.5*t(bike) - c(3)*W(bike);
U(walk) = +2.9 - 0.5*t(walk)
where W is a weather-related variable and t is travel time in minutes.
W=0 in good weather; W=1 in bad weather.
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(9 points) When the weather is good, what is the probability that a "non-motorized"
teacher with a choice between a 15-minute walk and a 6-minute bike ride will choose
the bicycle mode?
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(6 points) At what value of the weather coefficient c(3) will the teacher in Part A
be equally likely to choose walk and bicycle in bad weather?
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Trip Assignment. One the big events in Mythaca County each year is the Murdock
Bay Regatta, which takes place in and around Shoridan. Immediately after the last Regatta
event, however, thousands of vehicles leave Shoridan and head inland to (and through)
Mythaca. There are five possible routes from Shoridan to Mythaca. The link performance
functions for these five routes are:
t(1) = 18 + 4.5*x(1);
t(2) = 21 + 7.0*x(2);
t(3) = 26 + 4.9*x(3);
t(4) = 29 + 3.4*x(4);
t(5) = 34 + 0.3*x(5)
where t is in minutes and x is in 10^3 vph.
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(9 points)
It is expected that 8300 vehicles will be making the Shoridan-Mythaca trip in the maximum-
flow hour after the Regatta. Will all five routes be used?
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(6 points)
A Mythaca County planner has tried to convert the expected total flow and the LPFs above
into route flows. His solution includes:
x(1) = 3.50;
x(2) = 2.82;
x(3) = 1.58.
Do these values seem correct to you? Explain.
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Evaluation of alternatives. Refer to the alternatives in Table 3, SNotes 4.2.3 and
use Percentiles to convert an alternative's Measure of Merit (MoM) into an index for any
particular factor.
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(8 points)
What is the Range Index (SNotes 4.2.2) for Segment D with respect to its HAZARD MoM?
With respect to its PSR MoM? With respect to its ADT MoM?
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(8 points)
Repeat Part A using the Percentile Index for Segment D.
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